Senator Chuck Grassley is asking the Government Accountability Office to update their 2013 report on farm program eligibility before the next farm bill process begins.
The 2013 report, prior to passing the last farm bill, outlined many short-comings of the Farm Service Agency?s administration of the ?actively engaged? rule.
Grassley is asking GAO to review how FSA has implemented the new regulation.
?Farmers who exploit the system by using non-farming family members to get additional subsidies from the government, are only helping themselves.?
Grassley says they aren?t helping the agriculture economy and fought for this before the 2014 farm bill.
?I will not give up this fight. I still have young farmers who write to me saying they cannot get started in farming. Those who game the system get huge amounts of subsidy and bid the price of land up too high and bit the cash/rent up too high.?
He adds there is nothing wrong with farmers getting bigger but there?s a problem when big farmers get subsidized to get even bigger leaving less subsidies for beginning farmers.
